America's reliance upon the automobile as the primary means of transportation is a fact of life. There are now more than 200 million vehicles in the U.S. fleet, up from less than 160 million just since 1980. Continued growth is a certainty. In addition to the growing fleet, vehicle miles traveled also continues to increase as does the overall age of the fleet. More vehicles on the road (and more older vehicles) are being driven more miles than ever before.
Industry experts tend to agree that the gradual increase in fleet age is due to a number of factors: The average automobile is a better quality product than ever before; the prevalence of electronics on today's vehicles enables detailed monitoring of performance and pinpoint diagnosis of problems; the cost of today's vehicle coupled with increased reliability encourages the average consumer to keep vehicles longer; cleaner fuels prolong engine life.
Coupled with the essential and ever-increasing presence of motor vehicles is the fact that today's automobile is very sophisticated and reliant upon computer-based technology. The average new vehicle has 60 electronic sensors or monitors and this is expected to increase to about 100 in the next five to 10 years. It's no wonder that the “do it yourself” segment of the vehicle repair industry is rapidly disappearing.
By necessity, vehicle repair professionals are now technicians and specialists rather than simply mechanics. The average vehicle owner is no longer able to perform repairs on his or her own automobile, let alone even recognize problems with engine, brake or suspension components. People are relying more on their service professional now because they simply no longer have the technical “know-how” to do it themselves.
So what does all this mean to the average consumer and to government agencies that are responsible for highway safety and to the vehicle repair industry? More vehicles, more driving, more congestion, more older vehicles on the road - it means that certainty of vehicle condition is more important than ever for ensuring safety on the nation's highways. It means we should have a high degree of confidence that vehicles are kept in safe operating condition. One major step in ensuring the safety of vehicles is a requirement (common in many states, and in many other countries) for vehicles to be inspected regularly.
Depending upon how you define vehicle inspections, somewhere between 18 and 24 states now have mandated vehicle safety inspection programs. They can range from a cursory inspection required only at the time of initial ownership for certain vehicles to a comprehensive annual or semiannual inspection that includes measuring such things as brake, tire and front end wear. In states that have comprehensive, regular safety inspection programs, thousands of vehicles are identified each year that need repairs and/or tire or brake replacement for continued safe operation on the highway. Law enforcement officers who have been involved in accident investigations will be quick to point out how often vehicle accidents are investigated where brake or tire wear appears to have contributed to or caused accidents. Every time such a repair need is discovered during an inspection, it represents a circumstance where that vehicle could have continued operating on the highway in an unsafe condition for some period of time. And if these programs include automated data collection, they can provide both regulatory agencies and the inspection and repair industry access to the data that could be used to monitor program performance, identify repair trends, assist in problem diagnosis, track vehicle repair histories and offer e-commerce opportunities to both states and the repair industry. There is almost no limit to the added value data collection and access would represent to these programs.
States need vehicle safety inspection programs as a means of enhancing highway safety, and ideally these programs should be automated. We all have a right to expect that vehicles we share the road with are safe to operate. As the number of vehicles and miles driven continue to increase so do the risks of accidents. It is fundamentally essential that safety inspection programs already in place remain and that states that have abandoned their programs or perhaps never had a vehicle safety inspection program consider adoption.
As an industry and especially through organizations such as the Automotive Service Association, we should all promote and support vehicle safety inspection programs for everyone's safety. And in states where no program is in place, we should take it upon ourselves to raise awareness of the importance of vehicle safety inspections. It's almost a “motherhood and apple pie” issue. Everyone who drives or rides in an automobile benefits from vehicle safety inspection programs.
Terry Liller is the marketing manager for WorldCom in Harrisburg, Pa. He has more than 25 years experience working in and around the automotive and fuels industry, including 16 years with Sun Oil Co. (Sunoco) and four years as division chief for Emissions and Safety Inspections for the Pennsylvania Department of Motor Vehicles. Liller has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in industrial safety management from West Virginia University. He earned an MBA from Wilmington College.
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AutoInc. Magazine ® Vol.XLIX, April 2001
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Copyright © 2001 Automotive Service Association (ASA). All rights reserved.